Tanakh (Hebrew Bible)

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Tanakh (Hebrew Bible)

"Bereshit—Genesis," from the The Holy Scriptures, available online from the Jewish Virtual Library at http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Bible/Genesistoc.html

Written in about the first century bce

Published in 1917 by the Jewish Publication Society

Non-Jews use the word Bible to refer to the Judeo-Christian scriptures, and Christians divide it into the Old and New Testaments. Jews, however, refer to their sacred scripture as Tanakh. This word comes from the Hebrew letters used to refer to its three parts. The first part is the Torah, which comprises five books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The second is called Nevi'im, or Prophets, and includes twenty-one books, such as I Kings, II Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others. The third is called Ketuvim, or Writings, and consists of a number of the more "literary" or story-like books, including Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and others. The Tanakh is also referred to as the Hebrew Bible. For Christians, the Hebrew Bible is the Old Testament.

The epic story of creation is contained in the first book of the Hebrew Bible. This book, consisting of fifty chapters, is generally called Genesis, but in the Hebrew tradition it is called Bereshit (sometimes spelled Bereishit; pronounced Buh-RAY-sheet). This word means "in the beginning" and is taken from the book's opening words: Bereshit Bara Elokim Et Hashamayim Veet Haaretz, meaning "In the beginning God created heaven and earth."

"IN THE beginning G-d created the heaven and the earth."

The account of the creation of the world and of human beings is detailed in the first two chapters of Genesis, ending with the fourth verse of chapter 2. In vivid, simple language, it tells of the creation of light and darkness on day one; of the firmament (the sky) on day two; of the seas and dry land as well as plants and trees on day three; of the sun, moon, stars, seasons, day, and years on day four; of sea creatures and birds on day five; and of land animals and man on day six. On the seventh day, God rested.

The creation story contains a number of important principles that survive in the Judeo-Christian tradition. First, Judaism believes in a creator-god, who made all there is. Second, the story of creation emphasizes that all God created was good. Third, the greatest of all God's creations was humankind. Fourth, humans are distinguished from all other creatures because they are made in God's likeness—they have the potential to achieve God's goodness and creative energy—and because they have "dominion" over the rest of God's creatures, that is, they have control over their environment. Finally, the pattern of six days of work followed by a day of rest formed the pattern for working life throughout the history of the Western world.

The Jewish Shabbat

Central to the Jewish tradition is Shabbat, the source of the English word Sabbath. While usually the word is interpreted as "rest," it comes from a Hebrew word meaning something closer to "cease" and is typically interpreted to mean "cease working," just as God ceased his creative activity. Shabbat commemorates God's "resting" on the seventh day after six days of creation. It is the only Jewish holiday mentioned in the Old Testament. Indeed, the seventh day of creation is regarded as the first celebration of Shabbat, and the obligation to celebrate Shabbat is one of the Ten Commandments.

In strict Jewish tradition, Jews are obligated to honor Shabbat by not engaging in any creative activity, or any activity that somehow affects or changes the environment. For example, writing would be considered a violation of Shabbat. In modern life, however, many Jews have modified their interpretation of activities that would be a violation of Shabbat; thus, creative writing might be considered a "leisure" activity that would add to the holiness of Shabbat.

Shabbat begins at sundown on Friday, when the new day is thought to begin, and continues until sundown on Saturday, when the day ends. Christianity moved its Sabbath to Sunday as part of its break with Jewish traditions. This order was made by the Church Council of Laodicea in 364 ce.

Things to remember while reading the excerpt from the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible):

The account of creation in Genesis establishes Judaism as possibly the world's first monotheistic religion, though historians of religion continue to debate this question. Monotheism (mono-, meaning "one") refers to the concept of a single creator-god.
It is conventional to number the chapters and verses of the Jewish scripture as well as the Christian New Testament. Thus, the first line of the excerpt would be referred to as Genesis 1:1, meaning Genesis, chapter 1, verse 1. The verse numbers generally, but not always, correspond to a single sentence. The numbering of verses is standard, so that readers of any edition of the Bible can find chapters and verses without having to refer to differing page numbers.
In the excerpt from Genesis, the name "God" is written "G-d." Omitting letters from God's name is a common practice in Jewish tradition out of a concern that the written name of God could be defaced or erased or that the document could be destroyed. Accordingly, Jews avoid writing the complete name of God, often writing G-d or YHVH or YHWH rather than Yahweh. Modern-day rabbis have had to deal with the emergence of the computer and the fact that God's name can be deleted from a computer text. They have determined that this is not an "erasure" or "defacement," because a computer text has no permanence.
The "days" mentioned in the creation account in Genesis are generally not regarded as literal twenty-four-hour days. Jewish tradition accepts the idea that notions of time are relative and that the word day was used because it would be simple to understand. The use of day, then is not inconsistent with modern scientific views that Earth was formed over a period of millions of years.

Excerpt from the Holy Scriptures

Genesis: Chapter 1
IN THE beginning G-d created the heaven and the earth.
Now the earth was unformed and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and he spirit of G-d hovered over the face of the waters.
And G-d said: "Let there be light" And there was light.
And G-d saw the light, that it was good; and G-d divided the light from the darkness.
And G-d called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night And there was evening and there was morning, one day.
And G-d said: "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters."
And G-d made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.
And G-d called the firmament Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.
And G-d said: "Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear." And it was so.
And G-d called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters called He Seas; and G-d saw that it was good.
And G-d said: "Let the earth put forth grass, herb yielding seed, and fruit-tree bearing fruit after its kind, wherein is the seed thereof, upon the earth." And it was so.
And the earth brought forth grass, herb yielding seed after its kind, and tree bearing fruit, wherein is the seed thereof, after its kind; and G-d saw that it was good.
And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.
And G-d said: "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years;
and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth." And it was so.
And G-d made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; and the stars.
And G-d set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness; and G-d saw that it was good.
And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.
And G-d said: "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let fowl fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven."
And G-d created the great sea-monsters, and every living creature that creepeth, wherewith the waters swarmed, after its kind, and every winged fowl after its kind; and G-d saw that it was good.
And G-d blessed them, saying: "Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth."
And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.
And G-d said: "Let the earth bring forth the living creature after its kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after its kind." And it was so.
And G-d made the beast of the earth after its kind, and the cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the ground after its kind; and G-d saw that it was good.
And G-d said: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."
And G-d created man in His own image, in the image of G-d created He him; male and female created He them.
And G-d blessed them; and G-d said unto them: "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that creepeth upon the earth."
And G-d said: "Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed—to you it shall be for food;
and to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is a living soul, I have given every green herb for food." And it was so.
And G-d saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
Genesis: Chapter 2
And the heaven and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
And on the seventh day G-d finished His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made.
And G-d blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it; because that in it He rested from all His work which G-d in creating had made.
These are the generations of the heaven and of the earth when they were created, in the day that HaShem G-d made earth and heaven.

What happened next …

The book of Genesis contains many of the most famous stories from the Tanakh. These stories remain important parts of the cultural heritage of the West. The first eleven chapters recount the general history of humankind over a period of thousands of years. They begin with creation of the physical world and go on to the creation of humans. After chapter 11, the emphasis in Genesis begins to change. Instead of focusing on all of humankind, Genesis concentrates on major individuals. With Abraham, the founder of Judaism, and his descendants, God hoped to renew the world through his chosen people, the Jews.

Genesis contains at least four important themes in Jewish history. The first is the concept of election, or the belief that God chooses special people to carry out his work on Earth. Thus, the Jewish people, and Christians as well, see Abraham as the founder of the Jewish nation. The second major theme is the concept of covenant. This refers to agreements between God and human beings, such as God's promise never to send another flood. This sense of covenant governed all human relationships and made both moral and ritual demands on the Jewish people.

The third theme is law. The best example is the Ten Command ments, but the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) contains other examples of laws. All are based on the belief in one supreme God and humankind's covenants with Him. The final theme is exodus, the most prominent example of which is contained in the second book of the Torah, titled Exodus (or Shemot). The escape of Jews from bondage in Egypt and their return to the Promised Land (the land of Canaan, now Israel) is a key event in Jewish history. This event is still remembered in the yearly feast of Passover.

Did you know …

Traditionally, it was believed that Moses was the author of Genesis, but modern biblical scholarship has determined that the book's authorship is unknown. For centuries, the oldest manuscripts of Genesis, and of the other books of the Hebrew Bible, dated to the ninth century. Then, in 1947, the Dead Sea Scrolls, which include the books of the Hebrew Bible, were discovered by a shepherd boy in a cave near Qumran, Israel, near the northwestern coast of the Dead Sea. These scrolls were hidden by members of the clergy to protect them from invading Romans. With the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the earliest manuscript versions of the Hebrew Bible known to survive now date to the first century bce.
The creation account of Genesis is similar to the creation stories told in numerous other cultures. Many folk stories worldwide feature a creator-god who creates the world by divine command and forms the human being in his image from clay. One remarkably similar account is the Babylonian Genesis, written late in the second millennium bce in honor of the god Marduk. The Babylonian epic Atrakhasis also contains elements strikingly similar to events in Genesis.

Consider the following …

Some religions view the physical universe as eternal. Summarize ways in which Genesis provides a different view of the physical universe.
Explain the sequence of creation, as outlined in Genesis.
Explain what Genesis means when it says that God gave humans "dominion" over the rest of creation.

For More Information

BOOKS

Alter, Robert, ed. Genesis: Translation and Commentary. Rev. ed. New York: Norton, 1997.

"Bereshit—Genesis." In The Holy Scriptures. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1917. This excerpt can also be found online at http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Bible/Genesistoc.html.

Brodie, Thomas L. Genesis as Dialogue: A Literary, Historical, and Theological Commentary. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.

Sarna, Nahum M. Understanding Genesis: The World of the Bible in the Light of History. New York: Schocken, 1966.

Tov, Emmanuel. Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible. 2nd ed. London and New York: Augsburg Fortress, 2001.